Clothes-pin



(No Model.)

H. TIRRILLE CLOTHES PIN.

No. 444,603. Patented Jan. 13, 1-891.

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY TIRRILL, OF PITTSBURG, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CLOTH ES-PIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,603, dated January 13, 1891.

Application filed July 14, 1890- Serial No. 358,758- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, HARVEY TIRRILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Coos and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Pins; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to metallic clothespins; and itconsists in the improved construction and arrangement or combination of parts hereinafter fully disclosed in the description, drawings, and claims.

The objects of my invention are to provide an improved metallic clothes-pin having means for securely clamping it upon the line and the clothes to be held upon the same, having means for locking its jaws in clamping position, having means forconvenientlymanipulatingit and for securely keeping it when not in use, having means for limiting the playof its locking-slide, and having means for confining its jaws in their spread position and for guiding them. These objects are attained in the clothes-pin illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which the same reference-numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts, and in which- Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved clothes-pin; Fig. 2, a View of the pin locked; Fig. 3,aview of the pin unlocked; Fig. 4, an edge view of the pin; Fig. 5, an edge view of a modified form of the pin locked, and Fig. 6 an edge view of said pin unlocked.

In the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a double piece of wire, preferably of brass, galvanized iron, or other non-corrosive material, or material which corrodes with difliculty by simple contact with air or water. Said wire is doubled at its middle to form two arms 2, and is bent at a right angle to the plane of the arms to form an eye 3. The lower ends of the arms are slightly inclined outward, so as to cause them to stand in a slightly-diverging position. They are thereupon bent inward to form onsets 4. They are then bulged outward to form curved jaws 5, which may straddle over and around the clothes-line and the article to be clamped upon the same, and the extreme end of one jaw is bent to form an eye 6, while the end of the other jaw is doubled upward upon the side of the jaw having the doubled end, forming a similar eye 6 to the eye 6 and having its free end forming aloop 6", which incloses the opposite jaw and forms a guide for the same by its parallel sides. The eyes 6 and 6 of the clamping-jaws will prevent puncturing or tearing of the articles to be clamped on account of their rounded points or heads. A piece of wire 7, having its upper end formed into an eye or ring 8, sufficiently large for the insertion of a finger, slides in the eye 3 of the double wire and has an eye or slide 9 at its lower end, which is bent at a right angle to the wire and slides upon the arms of the other wire.

In the form of pin illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 the arms are bent outward to form a shoulder 10 some distance below the eye 3, so as to form a stop for the eye or slide 9 when the latter is slid upward. It will be seen that these pins are of the same construction as the pin shown in the other views, with the exception of the change in the upper part of the pin.

In practice the jaws of the pin are straddled over the article to be clamped and the clothesline and the eyed wire is slid down upon the arms, the eye forcing them together. The eye or ring at the upper end of the sliding wire will serve for the convenient pushing down of the wire and the bulges or oflset-s iupon the arms will serve to catch and hold the eye or slide at the lower end of the pin, which will thus lock the jaws in place upon the line.

When the pins are used, a quantity of them may be held suspended upon a finger or stick, or may be strung upon a ring, wire, or string by the eye or ring 8, so as to be conveniently accessible for the person hanging up clothes, and when the pins are to be stored away they may be conveniently hung up by said rings upon a peg or nail or supported strung upon a wire or cord.

Having thus fully described the construction and arrangement or combination of the several parts of my improved clothes-pin, its operation, and advantages, what I claim as new is--= 1. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of a Wire doubled to form diverging arms formed with offsets near their free ends and with outwardly-bulged clamping'jaws at said ends, and having the upper doubled end bent to form an eye at a right angle to said arms, with a wire having its upper end formed into an eye or ring slidingin the eye of said doubled wire and formed with a ring or slide at its lower end, which slides upon the arms of said Wire and engages the offsets upon the same, substantially as described.

2. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of the wire 1, doubled to form the arms 2, having the offsets 4 and jaws 5 bent to form the eye 3, and having the loop 6" formed upon one of said jaws, with the wire 7, having the eye or ring 8 at its upper end and the ring or slide 9 at its lower end, which slides upon said arms 2, substantially as described.

3. In a metallic clothes-pin, the combination of the wire 1, doubled to form the arms 2, bent to form the eye 3 and the shoulder 10 and having the bulges 4, and the jaws 5, one of which is doubled at its end and returned to form the guide-loop 6", with the wire '7, sliding in the eye 3, having the ring 8 at its upper end and the ring or slide 9 at its lower end, which slides upon and clamps said arms 2, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY TIRRILL.

Witnesses:

FnANK W. BALDWIN, GEORGE W. BALDWIN. 

